2016 US Presidential election
2016 US Presidential electionIStock

Only a few hours before the first debate between US presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, news agency Bloomberg published a new poll showing Trump opening a 2% lead over his Democrat opponent.

43% of those polled say they'll vote for Trump whereas 41% support Hillary.

However, when asked about how they expect the candidates to do in the upcoming debate at Hofstra University, Clinton enjoys a 10% gap in her favor among those polled.

49% said that Clinton will present her case much more convincingly than Trump while only 39% said the Republican candidate will be more persuasive.

It appears that the current trend over the last few days favors Trump, but only to a very small extent, as had been the case for Hillary in the previous few weeks.

Pundits in the US assess that the topsy-turvy nature of the polls shows that the race is extremely tight, and either candidate can get the win if he/she gathers some momentum at the right time.

One of the key issues that will be raised during Monday night's debate will be their position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Both candidates met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday and made statements on the issue. Now it will be interesting to see how they answer debate questions about Israel and the Palestinians.